Again
by Lea Ootori
Summary: After the 2003 series, Truth is not satisfied. The Elrics stuck on one side of the gate, Winry alone on the other, Roy with some serious PTSD- That wasn't how it should have ended. Everyone deserved better. Especially the Elrics. So Truth grins and uttered one word. "Again." And it all starts over again, but this time, it's a whole different story. It's Brotherhood.


**Hello! This is my first FullMetal Alchemist Fanfiction, though I've been in the fandom for a while now. I've seen the original, Brotherhood, both movies, all the OVAs (There's like ten, right?) the 4-koma episodes, and I've read all the manga...including the extra chapter. I'm a huge fan! So I was on Pinterest when I come across this fan theory, so I decided to write that fan theory into a fanfic. The part where Truth and Ed interact are taken right for the sub (because it's easier to copy captions that to listen to the episode and write things down) so sorry if you don't recognize all te lines. Thank you for reading and please review!**

 **P.S. You might need to watch both the original and Brotherhood to understand this fic, just saying. *ducks back into emo writing corner***

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The Truth was powerful. The Truth was the judge. He was the 'God', as the people called him. But he didn't swoop in and save people, like some religions stated. He didn't bless people from afar. His primary occupation was judging those dead. But when an alchemist discovered alchemy and taught the world about it, it changed. The Truth watched two different timelines unfold. One in which a man invented the first basic technological sciences, and another one in which the man taught alchemy until he died, spreading it all along the countryside in which he lived. He watched the timeline that grew with alchemy in interest, watching humans play god.

It made Truth laugh. They thought it was that simple? He watched a man fall in love a beautiful young woman and then greed for eternal life.

The Truth simply smiled in response.

Eternal life came with a price, but the humans were ready to pay it.

They claimed themselves the superior race, yet they did inhumane things like trying to gain eternal life. He watched two lovers jump from body to body, until the man didn't love her anymore. Another thing about eternal life was that love as weak and dainty as the body-hopping couple's could never last. Truth watched, amused, as this man, this 'Hoenheim' fell in love with a young woman, and had two children, then leaving her, trying to find a way to make himself a normal human again.

Truth watched the children grow up without their father. He watched the older one hate their missing father and the young one try to calm him.

He watched as their mother died and the body hopper didn't show up for the funeral. Truth watched, quietly, as he watched Ed and Al grow up and try to stop these homunculi. He watched them grow, make friends, and mourn for the dead. They became stronger as homunculus upon homunculus died.

But Ed impaled by Envy and brought back by his brother- who then crossed the border. Envy, Hoenheim, and Ed were all in the other timeline now.

The Dante woman, the female body hopper, was also dead.

Wrath remained, a pit of despair in himself.

Al had long the memories of his time in his armor body, which was equally heartbreaking to everyone who'd known him.

And Izumi Curtis died.

Truth watched, thoughtfully, as the events enfolded. Envy, was used to open a portal, Hoenheim dying in the process. Finally, the two sinful body hoppers had left the earth. It was way past their time, and their souls would suffer the punishment.

Now as Truth watched, the Elric brothers were both trapped, together, in the other timeline. Winry was all alone with her grandmother- she'd never see her best friends again. And she'd never even told Ed that she loved him.

Roy Mustang could also do better.

He blamed himself daily for the Elric brothers being trapped on the other side, and he wanted nothing more than the chance to switch places with them and let the poor teenagers live their lives in the world they were supposed to be in.

The one eyed, new Fuhrer, reigned Amestris, and Amestris was happy, but Roy was not, because he could only think of the two boys who'd sacrificed so much for the country, while he, the Fuhrer, hadn't put in a fraction of what the boys had done.

He didn't deserve this title.

The Truth shook his head thoughtfully as he watched.

"My, my." He said slowly. "This all went wrong." He got up, watching the white of his surroundings as though they were moving. "The Elrics deserve better. The Winry girl deserves better. And so does that Roy Mustang." He perched himself in an odd sitting position.

It all went wrong since the two different timelines were created. Truth imagined the other scenarios, and how everything would work out, but he failed to see much difference. Then he had an idea.

He grinned and uttered one word. "Again."

And it all restarted. Truth spent his time reliving the past, as it changed. The world never split into two different timelines. Alchemy was discovered much earlier, in Xerxes, and a little homunculus in a flask wiped the kingdom off the map and made Hoenheim, born earlier and less sinful this time, into a Philosopher's stone. He watched everything progress- the homunculus made differently this time, the gate had changed, instead of taking people to the other timeline, it only took the toll for trying to defy god and punished the sinful dead and rewarded the souls of the virtuous dead.

Truth watched as Ed and Al grew up all over again, Psiren growing up to be a wonderful young woman instead of a thief, Al's body ending up sitting near his gate, Ed's arm and leg being taken by Truth himself, the flask Homunculus wanting to swallow Truth…. It was right. It was happening the right way this time.

The Promised Day came, and some people died, some lived. The homunculus from the flash failed, like Truth knew he would, and Al let go of his soul to save his brother.

Ed then came back to Truth.

"So you came to get your brother back." Truth said slowly. "But how are you going to drag an entire human out?" Truth grinned even wider. "What are you going to sacrifice? Your entire body?"

Ed suddenly grinned, as if he'd discovered something secret. "There's something huge right here that I can sacrifice." He declared. He pointed behind him at the gate, and Truth, for the first time ever, was surprised.

He gaped, Ed staring the eyeless Truth down with a smirk. Ed knew he'd won. "This is MY gate of Truth." Ed continued as Truth continued to listen, slack-jawed. "Which means I can do whatever I want with it! Am I wrong?"

Truth closed his mouth a second later, and then chuckled. And then chuckled some more. Then he full out laughed, bringing his hand to his head. "So that was your plan." Truth laughed some more. Never had a human made him laugh this much. The alchemist glared at him, unafraid. He stopped laughing. "But are you sure about that? If you lose your Gate of Truth, you'll never be able to use alchemy again."

Ed looked back at the gate with a serious expression. "Yeah…" He sighed. "All of alchemy is on the other side of this gate. But thanks to it, I was manipulated. I was shown the Truth, and I believed that I could solve everything with alchemy. But I was wrong. I was just being arrogant."

Truth smiled slightly. "So you're going to become an ordinary human who can't use alchemy?"

Ed looked out into the distance, and for a split second, Truth wondered if he'd seen something in the sea of blank white. "I'm not going to 'become' anything. I've always been an ordinary human. A puny human who couldn't even save a little girl."

Truth leaned forward. "So you're sure you don't mind getting rid of that?" He asked, pointing at the Gate of Truth behind Edward.

Ed stared out past Truth for a few seconds, almost as if he was recalling a distant memory. Then, Ed suddenly turned towards Truth with a grin. "I don't need alchemy as long as I have my friends!" He declared.

Truth grinned as widely as he could. "Correct answer, alchemist!" He announced. Ed clapped his hands, as if on cue. "You've defeated me!" Truth continued. Ed laid his hands on the Gate of Truth. "Take everything you want!" Truth yelled. The Gate of Truth glowed blue with energy as it broke apart, Truth going with it. "The back door is over that way." Truth said before he left Ed's former Gate forever. "Edward Elric." And he was gone.

Truth was back where he usually was. Surrounded by Gates of Truth. Surrounded by the Gates of every human. And again, he watched. Ed saw his brother and his body. Ed and Al were back. Hoenheim died, right on cue, joining the soul of his late wife, his soul happy this time around. People who hadn't even joined the mix the last time around, like Bucaneer and Armstrong's sister had been affected. The new Pride, now just Selim Bradley, grew up for a second time as an ordinary human. There were no more homunculi. There was no more father.

Truth sat back satisfied. This all felt right.

Everyone had gotten what they deserved.

It was how to was supposed to go.

Truth was glad he'd uttered that simple, simple word.

Again.

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 **I know I'm not a very good writer and I probably butchered an awesome fan theory, but still. I had to try my hand at it, you know? :D Well, anyway, please tell me what you think in the comments below, even if it's just a list of all the mistakes I made- I love knowing what I'm doing wrong, it helps me do a better job the next time. So anyway, thanks, and please comment! Also feel free to request things, especially one-shots, I love writing one-shots for people. So, anyways, thanks for reading, and see you later!**

 **~Lea**


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